1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
University
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A university is an institution of higher education and research which grants academic degrees in various academic disciplines. Universities typically provide undergraduate education and postgraduate education, the word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means community of teachers and scholars. Universities were created in Italy and evolved from Cathedral schools for the clergy during the High Middle Ages, the original Latin word universitas refers in general to a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc. Like other guilds, they were self-regulating and determined the qualifications of their members, an important idea in the definition of a university is the notion of academic freedom. The first documentary evidence of this comes from early in the life of the first university, the University of Bologna adopted an academic charter, the Constitutio Habita, in 1158 or 1155, which guaranteed the right of a traveling scholar to unhindered passage in the interests of education. Today this is claimed as the origin of academic freedom and this is now widely recognised internationally - on 18 September 1988,430 university rectors signed the Magna Charta Universitatum, marking the 900th anniversary of Bolognas foundation. The number of universities signing the Magna Charta Universitatum continues to grow, the university is generally regarded as a formal institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting. The earliest universities were developed under the aegis of the Latin Church by papal bull as studia generalia and it is possible, however, that the development of cathedral schools into universities was quite rare, with the University of Paris being an exception. Later they were founded by Kings or municipal administrations. In the early period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries, the first universities in Europe with a form of corporate/guild structure were the University of Bologna, the University of Paris, and the University of Oxford. The students had all the power … and dominated the masters, princes and leaders of city governments perceived the potential benefits of having a scholarly expertise develop with the ability to address difficult problems and achieve desired ends. The emergence of humanism was essential to understanding of the possible utility of universities as well as the revival of interest in knowledge gained from ancient Greek texts. The rediscovery of Aristotles works–more than 3000 pages of it would eventually be translated–fuelled a spirit of inquiry into natural processes that had begun to emerge in the 12th century. Some scholars believe that these represented one of the most important document discoveries in Western intellectual history. Richard Dales, for instance, calls the discovery of Aristotles works a turning point in the history of Western thought and this became the primary mission of lecturers, and the expectation of students. The university culture developed differently in northern Europe than it did in the south, Latin was the language of the university, used for all texts, lectures, disputations and examinations. Professors lectured on the books of Aristotle for logic, natural philosophy, and metaphysics, while Hippocrates, Galen, outside of these commonalities, great differences separated north and south, primarily in subject matter
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
School
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A school is an institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools, the names for these schools vary by country but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught, is called a university college or university. In addition to these schools, students in a given country may also attend schools before. Kindergarten or pre-school provide some schooling to young children. University, vocational school, college or seminary may be available after secondary school, a school may also be dedicated to one particular field, such as a school of economics or a school of dance. Alternative schools may provide nontraditional curriculum and methods, there are also non-government schools, called private schools. Private schools may be required when the government does not supply adequate, Schools for adults include institutions of corporate training, military education and training and business schools. In homeschooling and online schools, teaching and learning take place outside of a school building. Schools are commonly organized in several different organizational models, including departmental, small learning communities, academies, integrated, and schools-within-a-school. The word school derives from Greek σχολή, originally meaning leisure and also that in which leisure is employed, the concept of grouping students together in a centralized location for learning has existed since Classical antiquity. Formal schools have existed at least since ancient Greece, ancient Rome ancient India, the Byzantine Empire had an established schooling system beginning at the primary level. According to Traditions and Encounters, the founding of the education system began in 425 AD. The sometimes efficient and often large government of the Empire meant that citizens were a must. Although Byzantium lost much of the grandeur of Roman culture and extravagance in the process of surviving, the Byzantine education system continued until the empires collapse in 1453 AD. Beginning in the 5th century CE monastic schools were established throughout Western Europe. Islam was another culture developed a school system in the modern sense of the word
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Learning
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The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, plants and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow a learning curve, Learning does not happen all at once, but it builds upon and is shaped by previous knowledge. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent. Human learning may occur as part of education, personal development, schooling and it may be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation. The study of how learning occurs is part of psychology, neuropsychology, learning theory. Learning may occur consciously or without conscious awareness, Learning that an aversive event cant be avoided nor escaped is called learned helplessness. Play has been approached by several theorists as the first form of learning, children experiment with the world, learn the rules, and learn to interact through play. Lev Vygotsky agrees that play is pivotal for childrens development, since they make meaning of their environment through playing educational games, non-associative learning refers to a relatively permanent change in the strength of response to a single stimulus due to repeated exposure to that stimulus. Changes due to such factors as sensory adaptation, fatigue, or injury do not qualify as non-associative learning, non-associative learning can be divided into habituation and sensitization. Habituation is an example of learning in which the strength or probability of a response diminishes when the response is repeated. The response is typically a reflex or unconditioned response, thus, habituation must be distinguished from extinction, which is an associative process. In operant extinction, for example, a response declines because it is no longer followed by reward. An example of habituation can be seen in small song birds—if a stuffed owl is put into the cage, soon the birds react less, showing habituation. If another stuffed owl is introduced, the birds react to it again as though it were a predator, habituation has been shown in essentially every species of animal, as well as the sensitive plant Mimosa pudica and the large protozoan Stentor coeruleus. Sensitization is an example of learning in which the progressive amplification of a response follows repeated administrations of a stimulus. An everyday example of this mechanism is the repeated stimulation of peripheral nerves that occurs if a person rubs their arm continuously. After a while, this creates a warm sensation that eventually turns painful. The pain results from the progressively amplified synaptic response of the peripheral nerves warning that the stimulation is harmful, sensitisation is thought to underlie both adaptive as well as maladaptive learning processes in the organism
6.
Vocational education
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Craft vocations are usually based on manual or practical activities and are traditionally non-academic but related to a specific trade or occupation. Vocational education is referred to as career education or technical education. Vocational education can take place at the secondary, post-secondary, further education, and higher education level, however, online vocational education has grown in popularity, and made it easier than ever for students to learn various trade skills and soft skills from established professionals in the industry. Wilhelm von Humboldts educational model goes beyond vocational training, if this basis is laid through schooling, vocational skills are easily acquired later on, and a person is always free to move from one occupation to another, as so often happens in life. In Australia vocational education and training is mostly post-secondary and provided through the vocational education, however some senior schools do offer school-based apprenticeships and traineeships for students in years 10,11 and 12. Australia’s apprenticeship system includes both apprenticeships in trades and traineeships in other more service-oriented occupations. Both involve a legal contract between the employer and the apprentice or trainee and provide a combination of school-based and workplace training, Apprenticeships typically last three to four years, traineeships only one to two years. Apprentices and trainees receive a wage which increases as they progress through the training scheme and this allows national portability of qualifications and units of competency. A crucial feature of the package is that the content of the vocational qualifications is theoretically defined by industry. A Training Package is owned by one of 11 Industry Skills Councils which are responsible for developing and reviewing the qualifications, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research or NCVER is a not-for-profit company owned by the federal, state and territory ministries responsible for training. It is responsible for collecting, managing, analysing, evaluating and communicating research and statistics about vocational education, the boundaries between vocational education and tertiary education are becoming more blurred. A number of training providers such as Melbourne Polytechnic, BHI. Such applied courses include equine studies, winemaking and viticulture, aquaculture, information technology, music, illustration, culinary management, the largest and the most unified system of vocational education was created in the Soviet Union with the professionalno-tehnicheskoye uchilische and Tehnikum. But it became effective with the transition of the economies of post-Soviet countries to a market economy. Education and training is the responsibility of states, but the single European labour market makes some cooperation on education imperative, including on vocational education. The process is based on mutually agreed priorities that are reviewed periodically, much of the activity is monitored by Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training. In Finland, vocational education belongs to secondary education, after the nine-year comprehensive school, almost all students choose to go to either a lukio, which is an institution preparing students for tertiary education, or to a vocational school. Both forms of secondary education last three years, and give a qualification to enter university or ammattikorkeakoulu, i. e. Finnish polytechnics
7.
River Valley High School, Singapore
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River Valley High School is an educational institution in Singapore offering the Integrated Programme in Singapore. Founded in 1956, it is one of the Special Assistance Plan schools designated by the Ministry of Education, founded in 1956, River Valley High School was the first Chinese middle school set up by the government. River Valley High School admitted its first batch of English stream pupils when it was selected as one of the nine Special Assistance Plan schools in 1979 and it shifted from River Valley to West Coast in December 1986. Due to the school campus at the West Coast site. It reverted to a school in 1993 after adding new blocks to the West Coast site. It was among the first six schools in Singapore to assume the ascendance to autonomous status in 1994. For its achievements in its CCAs, it was one of the first schools to receive all three available Sustained Achievement Awards when it was first offered by the Ministry of Education in 2001. In 2006 River Valley High School was officially designated a 6-Year Integrated Programme school, under the programme, students follows a six-year Integrated Programme curriculum which allows students to sit for the GCE A Level examinations at year 6 without taking the GCE O Level examinations. The final batch of GCE O Level students graduated from River Valley High School in 2007, River Valley High School retained its school song in mandarin Chinese. The song, with links to the school motto, represents the heritage of the school. Students are reminded to bring glory to the school through excellence in academics and behaviour. The school song is written in literary Chinese, giving it a poetic touch, the lyrics are written in verses of four characters, a parallel to Chinese idioms, with the exception of the last two verses. River Valley High Schools crest is made of the schools initials RV, the colour of red symbolises radiance, progress and vitality, the colour of blue symbolises steadfastness, graciousness and serenity, while white symbolises purity and receptiveness to innovation. The school uniform is unique to River Valley High School, one of the most outstanding, from 2006, River Valley High School offers the 6-year Integrated Programme, allowing its students to take the GCE A level examinations at the end their sixth year in the school. It also offers the Bicultural Studies Programme, joining Dunman High School, Hwa Chong Institution, in the CID Programme, students spend their freed time constructively on inquiry-based and research-oriented project work. Teamwork is emphasised through collaborative and co-operative learning, the programme is designed with the objectives of providing students with the opportunities to engage in individualised research in an area of strength. All students will complete coursework in Research Methods, an in depth learning of the quantitative and qualitative methods appropriate to individualised researches, students can also seek attachments at the local or overseas institutes for the CID Extended Learning. Opportunities for further learning are also provided through overseas exchange programmes, CHAMPS is an acronym for Character Education, Health Education, Active Citizenry, Moral Philosophy, Physical Education, & Student Leadership Development
8.
Bachelor's degree
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A bachelors degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to seven years. In some institutions and educational systems, some bachelors degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate degrees after a first degree has been completed. The term bachelor in the 12th century referred to a knight bachelor, by the end of the 13th century, it was also used by junior members of guilds or universities. By folk etymology or wordplay, the word came to be associated with bacca lauri in reference to laurels being awarded for academic success or honours. An honours degree generally requires an academic standard than a pass degree. In most African countries, the university systems follow the model of their former colonizing power, for example, the Nigerian university system is similar to the British system, while the Ivorian system is akin to the French. The degree is typically identical to the program of Frances universities, bachelors degree programs cover most of the fields in Algerian universities, except some fields, such as Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science. Bachelors degrees at the University of Botswana normally take four years, the system draws on both British and American models. Degrees are classified as First Class, Second Class Division One, Second Class Division Two and Third as in English degrees, but without being described as honours. The main degrees are named by British tradition, but in recent years there have been a numbers of degrees named after specific subjects, such as Bachelor of Library, in Morocco, a bachelors degree is referred to as al-ʾijāzah. The course of study takes three years, which are divided into two cycles. The first cycle comprises the first, or propaedeutic, year, after successfully completing their first two years, students can pursue either theoretical specialization or professional specialization. The second cycle is one long, after whose completion students receive the licence détudes fondamentales or the licence professionnelle. This academic degree system was introduced in September 2003, University admission is extremely competitive, with attendant advantages and disadvantages. Nonetheless, it takes four to five years to complete a bachelors degree, in cases of poor performance, the time limit is double the standard amount of time. For example, one may not study for more than 10 years for a five-year course, students are normally asked to leave if they must take longer. B. Arch. and other specialized undergraduate degrees, such as B. Eng, Science undergraduate degrees may require six months or a semester dedicated to SIWES but it is usually mandatory for all engineering degrees. A semester for project work/thesis is required, not excluding course work, the classifications of degrees, first-class, second-class, third-class and a pass
9.
Cambodia
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Cambodia, officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is 181,035 square kilometres in area, bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia has a population of over 15 million. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, practiced by approximately 95 percent of the population, the countrys minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams, and 30 hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic, the kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years. In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name Kambuja. The Indianized kingdom built monumental temples including Angkor Wat, now a World Heritage Site, after the fall of Angkor to Ayutthaya in the 15th century, a reduced and weakened Cambodia was then ruled as a vassal state by its neighbours. In 1863 Cambodia became a protectorate of France which doubled the size of the country by reclaiming the north, the Vietnam War extended into the country with the US bombing of Cambodia from 1969 until 1973. Following the Cambodian coup of 1970, the king gave his support to his former enemies. Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia was governed briefly by a United Nations mission, the UN withdrew after holding elections in which around 90 percent of the registered voters cast ballots. The 1997 coup placed power solely in the hands of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian Peoples Party, important sociopolitical issues includes widespread poverty, pervasive corruption, lack of political freedoms, low human development, and a high rate of hunger. While per capita income remains low compared to most neighbouring countries, agriculture remains the dominant economic sector, with strong growth in textiles, construction, garments, and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international trade. Cambodia scored dismally in an annual index ranking the rule of law in 102 countries, placing 99th overall, Cambodia also faces environmental destruction as an imminent problem. The most severe activity in this regard is considered to be the countrywide deforestation, the Kingdom of Cambodia is the official English name of the country. The English Cambodia is an anglicisation of the French Cambodge, which in turn is the French transliteration of the Khmer Kampuchea, Kampuchea is the shortened alternative to the countrys official name in Khmer, Preah Reacheanachak Kampuchea. The Khmer endonym Kampuchea derives from the Sanskrit name Kambujadeśa, composed of देश, desa and कम्बोज, Kambujas, colloquially, Cambodians refer to their country as either Srok Khmer, meaning Khmers Land, or the slightly more formal Prateh Kampuchea, literally Country of Kampuchea. The name Cambodia is used most often in the Western world while Kampuchea is more used in the East. Excavations in its lower layers produced a series of dates as of 6000 BC
10.
School uniform
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A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise educational institution. They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries, an example of a uniform would be requiring white button-downs and ties for boys and pleated skirts for girls, with both wearing blazers. A uniform can even be as simple as requiring collared shirts, or restricting colour choices, a dress code, on the other hand, is much less restrictive, and focuses on promoting modesty and discouraging anti-social fashion statements, according to Marian Wilde. Examples of a dress code would be not allowing ripped clothing and it is difficult to trace the origins of the uniform as there is no comprehensive written history, but rather a variety of known influences. School uniforms are believed to be a practice which dates to the 16th century in the United Kingdom and it is believed that the Christ Hospital School in London in 1552 was the first school to use a school uniform. Little is known prior to the Archbishop of Canterbury ordered monks to wear a specific form of dress. Despite this example, the roots of the day uniform come mostly from the collegiate uniforms in England. Universities, primary schools and secondary schools used uniforms as a marker of class and status, as early as the sixteenth century, uniforms were utilised and became more specific as various fashion trends became undesirable to the university. Although uniforms can often be considered conservative and old-fashioned, uniforms in recent years have changed as societal dress codes have changed, there are an abundance of theories and empirical studies looking at school uniforms, making statements about their effectiveness. These theories and studies elaborate on the benefits and also the shortcomings of uniform policies, the issue of nature vs. nurture comes into play, as uniforms affect the perceptions of masculinity and femininity, complicate the issue of gender classification and also subdue the sexuality of girls. With uniforms also comes a variety of controversies, pros, cons, there are two main empirical findings that are most often cited in the political rhetoric surrounding the uniform debate. The case study of the Long Beach Unified School District was the study of the first large, in 1994, mandatory school uniforms were implemented for the districts elementary and middle schools as a strategy to address the students behaviour issues. The district simultaneously implemented a study to research the effects of the uniforms on student behavior. The study attributed favourable student behavioral changes and a significant drop in school discipline issues to the uniform policy. Research, on the hand, empirically examined how a school uniform affects attendance, behavior problems, substance abuse. Researchers in this study expected that the direct of uniforms on these outcomes would disappear once the moderating variables were introduced to the equation, if this were to be the case, then arguments proclaiming uniform policies direct effect on said outcomes would be proven false. This study used a nationally representative sample of students, from the results, researchers were able to conclude that students wearing uniforms did not have any significant difference in academic preparedness or proschool attitudes than other students. Researchers also found that student uniforms were not significantly correlated with school commitment variables such as truancy, behaviour, as uniforms have become more normalised, there have also been an increasing number of lawsuits brought against school districts
11.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
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Nepal
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Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022
13.
Nishapur
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It had an estimated population of 239,185 as of 2011 and its county 433,105. Nearby are the mines that have supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia. The city was founded in the 3rd century by Shapur I as a Sasanian satrapy capital, Nishapur later became the capital of Tahirid dynasty and was reformed by Abdullah Tahir in 830, and was later selected as the capital of Seljuq dynasty by Tughril in 1037. From the Abbasid era to the Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center within the Islamic world. Nishapur reached the height of its prosperity under the Samanids in the 10th century, but was destroyed by Mongols in 1221 and they worked at Nishapur between 1935 and 1940, returning for a final season in the winter of 1947–48. What remains of old Nishapur region is a 3500-hectare Kohandejh area, little archaeology has been done on this vast and complicated site. George Curzon remarked that Nishapur had been destroyed and rebuilt more times than any city in history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art undertook excavations from 1935 that were interrupted in 1940, searching largely for museum-worthy trophies that they shared with the government of the Shah, the Metropolitans publications were limited to its own Nishapur ceramics. The site of Nishapur has been ransacked for half a century since World War II, shadiyakh was one of the main palaces of old Nishapur up to the 9th century AD, which became more important and populated after that. Some notable people like Attar lived there, attars tomb is nowadays in that area. This palace was completely ruined in the 13th century. Nishapur occupies an important strategic position astride the old Silk Road that linked Anatolia, on the Silk Road, Nishapur has often defined the flexible frontier between the Iranian plateau and Central Asia. The town derived its name from its founder, the Sassanian king Shapur I. Nearby are the mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia. In the year 1000 CE, it was among the ten largest cities on earth, after the husband of Genghis Khans daughter was killed at Nishapur in 1221, she or Genghis ordered the death of the entire population of the city, which was reputedly 1.7 million. Their skulls were reputedly piled in pyramids by the Mongols and this massacre, combined with subsequent earthquakes destroyed the pottery industry. US band Santana released a track entitled Incident at Neshabur on their 1970 LP release. Carlos Santana says this was a reference to a place in Haiti, yo-Yo Ma released an instrumental track entitled Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur as part of the Silk Road Project
14.
Iranian University Entrance Exam
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The Iranian University Entrance Exam also known as the Concours is a standardized test used as one of the means to gain admission to higher education in Iran. Generally, to get Ph. D. in non-medical majors, there are 3 exams, in recent years there was parliament bill to gradually eliminate this entrance exam to enter universities in Iran. In June each year, high school graduates in Iran take a stringent, centralized nationwide university entrance exam, called the Concours, the competition is fierce and the exam content rigorous since the seats at universities are limited. Concours is a comprehensive,4. 5-hour multiple-choice exam that covers all subjects taught in Iranian high schools—from math and science to Islamic studies and foreign language. The exam is so stringent that normally students spend a year preparing for it, a very lucrative cram industry offers courses to enthusiastic students. The Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology has established the Education Evaluation Organization to oversee all aspects of the test, as the sole criterion for student admissions into universities in Iran, Concours has gone through many phases. In prerevolutionary Iran, the exam was—as currently—a comprehensive test of knowledge, thus, almost 70 to 80 percent of university entrants came from large urban cities. The university entrance exam judged admissions candidates not only by their academic test score but also by their social and political background, in the early 1980s, a quota system was introduced to further democratize the selection criteria by allowing preferential treatments to underprivileged students. A year after the Iran-Iraq war ended, a law was passed to help handicapped and volunteer veterans to enter universities, reserving 40 percent of university seats for war veterans. An additional criterion for student selection was introduced in the early 1990s to localize the student population and this policy was to prevent student migration into the larger cities. The requirement of service after graduation also was instrumental in providing education, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the quota criteria have worked against students whose academic performance is superior to those favored by the quota system. Azad University, a private university, favors its autonomy in governance, but its degrees and curriculum are overseen by the Ministry of Science, Research. The other drawback is the nature of the test itself, as the Concours crisis persists, authorities are contemplating a replacement mechanism for student selection. One of the options being considered is to use the cumulative grade-point average of the three years of high school to admit students. While this policy seems more humanistic and fair than using a single exam to measure students preparedness, perhaps incorporating interviews, essay writing, and aptitude tests, in addition to GPA would be a more effective way of measuring students qualifications to enter universities. This approach could serve to divert less academically inclined students from participating in the university entrance exams, SAT, the US equivalent List of admissions tests List of universities in Iran Higher education in Iran Shahrzad Kamyab. International Higher Education, Spring 2008, No.51, archived from the original on 9 June 2008
15.
Queensland
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Queensland is the second-largest and third-most-populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west, to the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. Queensland has a population of 4,750,500, concentrated along the coast, the state is the worlds sixth largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 km2. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australias third largest city, often referred to as the Sunshine State, Queensland is home to 10 of Australias 30 largest cities and is the nations third largest economy. Tourism in the state, fuelled largely by its tropical climate, is a major industry. Queensland was first inhabited by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, the first European to land in Queensland was Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606, who explored the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula near present-day Weipa. In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain. The colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip at Sydney, New South Wales at that time included all of what is now Queensland, Queensland was explored in subsequent decades until the establishment of a penal colony at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley. Penal transportation ceased in 1839 and free settlement was allowed from 1842, the state was named in honour of Queen Victoria, who on 6 June 1859 signed Letters Patent separating the colony from New South Wales. The 6th of June is now celebrated statewide as Queensland Day. Queensland achieved statehood with the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, the history of Queensland spans thousands of years, encompassing both a lengthy indigenous presence, as well as the eventful times of post-European settlement. The north-eastern Australian region was explored by Dutch, Spanish and French navigators before being encountered by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770, the Australian Labor Party has its origin as a formal organisation in Queensland and the town of Barcaldine is the symbolic birthplace of the party. June 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of its creation as a colony from New South Wales. The Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC, likely via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait, during the last ice age Queenslands landscape became more arid and largely desolate, making food and other supplies scarce. This led to the worlds first seed-grinding technology, warming again made the land hospitable, which brought high rainfall along the eastern coast, stimulating the growth of the states tropical rainforests. In February 1606, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed near the site of what is now Weipa and this was the first recorded landing of a European in Australia, and it also marked the first reported contact between European and Aboriginal Australian people. The region was explored by French and Spanish explorers prior to the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of the United Kingdom on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming Eastern Australia, including Queensland, the Aboriginal population declined significantly after a smallpox epidemic during the late 18th century
16.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
17.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
18.
Victoria (Australia)
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Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
19.
South Australia
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South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country, with a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres, it is the fourth-largest of Australias states and territories. Other population centres in the state are relatively small, the state comprises less than 8 percent of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the six states and two territories. The majority of its people reside in Adelaide, most of the remainder are settled in fertile areas along the south-eastern coast and River Murray. The states colonial origins are unique in Australia as a settled, planned British province. Official settlement began on 28 December 1836, when the colony was proclaimed at the Old Gum Tree by Governor John Hindmarsh, as with the rest of the continent, the region had been long occupied by Aboriginal peoples, who were organised into numerous tribes and languages. The first British settlement to be established was Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, on 26 July 1836, the guiding principle behind settlement was that of systematic colonisation, a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon Wakefield that was later employed by the New Zealand Company. The goal was to establish the province as a centre of civilisation for free immigrants, promising civil liberties, although its history is marked by economic hardship, South Australia has remained politically innovative and culturally vibrant. Today, it is known for its wine and numerous cultural festivals. The states economy is dominated by the agricultural, manufacturing and mining industries, the state has an increasingly significant finance sector as well. Evidence of human activity in South Australia dates back as far as 20,000 years, with flint mining activity, in addition wooden spears and tools were made in an area now covered in peat bog in the South East. Kangaroo Island was inhabited long before the island was cut off by rising sea levels, thijssen named his discovery Pieter Nuyts Land, after the highest ranking individual on board. The complete coastline of South Australia was first mapped by Matthew Flinders, the land which now forms the state of South Australia was claimed for Britain in 1788 as part of the colony of New South Wales. Although the new colony included almost two-thirds of the continent, early settlements were all on the eastern coast and it took more than forty years before any serious proposal to establish settlements in the south-western portion of New South Wales were put forward. In 1834, the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act 1834, the act stated that 802,511 square kilometres would be allotted to the colony and it would be convict-free. In contrast to the rest of Australia, terra nullius did not apply to the new province, although the patent guaranteed land rights under force of law for the indigenous inhabitants it was ignored by the South Australian Company authorities and squatters. Settlement of seven vessels and 636 people was made at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island. The first immigrants arrived at Holdfast Bay in November 1836, the Colonisation Commissioners intended to establish a police service as soon as misconduct within the increasing population warranted it
20.
Western Australia
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Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Southern Ocean to the south, the state has about 2.6 million inhabitants, around 11% of the national total. 92% of the lives in the south-west corner of the state. The first European visitor to Western Australia was the Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog, the first European settlement of Western Australia occurred following the landing by Major Edmund Lockyer on 26 December 1826 of an expedition on behalf of the New South Wales colonial government. This was followed by the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829, including the site of the present-day capital, york was the first inland settlement in Western Australia. Situated 97 kilometres east of Perth, it was settled on 16 September 1831, Western Australia achieved responsible government in 1890, and federated with the other British colonies in Australia in 1901. Today its economy relies on mining, agriculture and tourism. The state produces 46% of Australias exports, Western Australia is the second-largest iron ore producer in the world. The International Hydrographic Organization designates the body of water south of the continent as part of the Indian Ocean, the total length of the states eastern border is 1,862 km. There are 20,781 km of coastline, including 7,892 km of island coastline, the total land area occupied by the state is 2.5 million km2. Most of the state is a low plateau with an elevation of about 400 metres, very low relief. This descends relatively sharply to the plains, in some cases forming a sharp escarpment. The extreme age of the landscape has meant that the soils are remarkably infertile, even soils derived from granitic bedrock contain an order of magnitude less available phosphorus and only half as much nitrogen as soils in comparable climates in other continents. Soils derived from extensive sandplains or ironstone are even less fertile, nearly devoid of soluble phosphate and also deficient in zinc, copper, molybdenum, the infertility of most of the soils has required heavy application by farmers of chemical fertilisers, particularly superphosphate, insecticides and herbicides. These have resulted in damage to invertebrate and bacterial populations, the grazing and use of hoofed mammals and, later, heavy machinery through the years have resulted in compaction of soils and great damage to the fragile soils. Large-scale land clearing for agriculture has damaged habitats for native flora, large areas of the states wheatbelt region have problems with dryland salinity and the loss of fresh water. The southwest coastal area has a Mediterranean climate and it was originally heavily forested, including large stands of karri, one of the tallest trees in the world. This agricultural region is one of the nine most bio-diverse terrestrial habitats, thanks to the offshore Leeuwin Current, the area is one of the top six regions for marine biodiversity and contains the most southerly coral reefs in the world
21.
Technical and further education
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Fields covered include business, finance, hospitality, tourism, construction, engineering, visual arts, information technology and community work. Individual TAFE institutions are known as colleges or institutes, depending on the state or territory. TAFE colleges are owned, operated and financed by the various state and this is in contrast to the university sector, whose funding is predominantly the domain of the federal government and whose universities are predominantly owned by the state governments. In NZ the equivalent of a TAFE is a Polytech, in many instances TAFE study can be used as partial credit towards bachelors degree-level university programs. As at June 200910 TAFE colleges now confer their own awards and post graduate diplomas. However Melbourne Polytechnic has been accredited in 2015 to offer two masters degree courses, some high schools also deliver courses developed and accredited by TAFEs. While Universities have the ability and power to design and offer their own degree courses, TAFEs in some states can also teach senior high school qualifications, like the VCE, Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, and the Higher School Certificate. Some universities, e. g. Charles Darwin University and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, offer TAFE courses, some high schools also deliver courses developed and accredited by TAFEs. Some private institutions offer courses from TAFEs, however they more commonly offer other vocational education. Many Australians refer to all sub-degree courses as TAFE courses, no matter what institution creates or delivers the course, before the 1990s, the TAFEs had a near monopoly in the sector. TAFE courses provide students an opportunity for certificate, diploma, in most cases, TAFE campuses are grouped into TAFE institutions along geographic lines. Most TAFEs are given a locally recognised region of the country where they exclusively operate covering a range of subjects. A few TAFEs specialise in a area of study. These are usually found near the middle of the capital cities, or the William Angliss Institute of TAFE in Melbourne which specialises in food, hospitality and tourism courses for Victoria
22.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
23.
Lecture
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A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to critical information, history, background, theories. A politicians speech, a sermon, or even a businessmans sales presentation may be similar in form to a lecture. Usually the lecturer will stand at the front of the room, though lectures are much criticised as a teaching method, universities have not yet found practical alternative teaching methods for the large majority of their courses. Critics point out that lecturing is mainly a one-way method of communication that does not involve significant audience participation, therefore, lecturing is often contrasted to active learning. Lectures have a significant role outside the classroom, as well, academic and scientific awards routinely include a lecture as part of the honor, and academic conferences often center around keynote addresses, i. e. lectures. The public lecture has a history in the sciences and in social movements. Union halls, for instance, historically have hosted numerous free, similarly, churches, community centers, libraries, museums, and other organizations have hosted lectures in furtherance of their missions or their constituents interests. Lectures represent a continuation of tradition in contrast to textual communication in books. Lectures may be considered a type of grey literature, the noun lecture dates from 14th century, meaning action of reading, that which is read, from the Latin lectus, pp. of legere to read. Its subsequent meaning as oral discourse on a subject before an audience for purposes of instruction is from the 16th century. The verb to lecture is attested from 1590, the noun lectern refers to the reading desk used by lecturers. The practice in the university was for the instructor to read from an original source to a class of students who took notes on the lecture. The reading from original sources evolved into the reading of glosses on an original, throughout much of history, the diffusion of knowledge via handwritten lecture notes was an essential element of academic life. Even in the century, the lecture notes taken by students. Many lecturers were, and still are, accustomed to reading their own notes from the lectern for exactly that purpose. Nevertheless, modern lectures generally incorporate additional activities, e. g. writing on a chalk-board, exercises, class questions and discussions, or student presentations. The use of presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint has changed the form of lectures, e. g. video, graphics, websites
24.
Linear algebra
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Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning vector spaces and linear mappings between such spaces. It includes the study of lines, planes, and subspaces, the set of points with coordinates that satisfy a linear equation forms a hyperplane in an n-dimensional space. The conditions under which a set of n hyperplanes intersect in a point is an important focus of study in linear algebra. Such an investigation is initially motivated by a system of linear equations containing several unknowns, such equations are naturally represented using the formalism of matrices and vectors. Linear algebra is central to both pure and applied mathematics, for instance, abstract algebra arises by relaxing the axioms of a vector space, leading to a number of generalizations. Functional analysis studies the infinite-dimensional version of the theory of vector spaces, combined with calculus, linear algebra facilitates the solution of linear systems of differential equations. Because linear algebra is such a theory, nonlinear mathematical models are sometimes approximated by linear models. The study of linear algebra first emerged from the study of determinants, determinants were used by Leibniz in 1693, and subsequently, Gabriel Cramer devised Cramers Rule for solving linear systems in 1750. Later, Gauss further developed the theory of solving linear systems by using Gaussian elimination, the study of matrix algebra first emerged in England in the mid-1800s. In 1844 Hermann Grassmann published his Theory of Extension which included foundational new topics of what is called linear algebra. In 1848, James Joseph Sylvester introduced the term matrix, which is Latin for womb, while studying compositions of linear transformations, Arthur Cayley was led to define matrix multiplication and inverses. Crucially, Cayley used a letter to denote a matrix. In 1882, Hüseyin Tevfik Pasha wrote the book titled Linear Algebra, the first modern and more precise definition of a vector space was introduced by Peano in 1888, by 1900, a theory of linear transformations of finite-dimensional vector spaces had emerged. Linear algebra took its form in the first half of the twentieth century. The use of matrices in quantum mechanics, special relativity, the origin of many of these ideas is discussed in the articles on determinants and Gaussian elimination. Linear algebra first appeared in American graduate textbooks in the 1940s, following work by the School Mathematics Study Group, U. S. high schools asked 12th grade students to do matrix algebra, formerly reserved for college in the 1960s. In France during the 1960s, educators attempted to teach linear algebra through finite-dimensional vector spaces in the first year of secondary school and this was met with a backlash in the 1980s that removed linear algebra from the curriculum. To better suit 21st century applications, such as mining and uncertainty analysis
25.
Helsinki University of Technology
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The Helsinki University of Technology was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in 1849 by Grand Duke Nicholas I and it moved from Helsinki to Otaniemi campus area in 1966. It was merged into Aalto University in 2010 and briefly had the name Aalto University School of Science, much of the universitys Otaniemi campus was designed by Alvar Aalto. As the proportion of matriculation diploma holders in the student intake gradually increased, in 1908, TKK was given university status along with its present name, thus becoming the second university to be founded in Finland. In 1955, building of the new campus started with the housing village. In 1966, TKK moved from Helsinki to the new campus in Otaniemi, in 2010, TKK was merged with Helsinki School of Economics and University of Art and Design Helsinki into Aalto University. All engineering programmes offered by TKK led to the degree of diplomi-insinööri, the only exceptions to this were the architecture programmes that lead to the masters degrees of architecture and landscape architecture. From 2005, according to the Bologna process, all students also complete an intermediate degree before the DI or architects degree. This degree is considered a degree and enables enrollment in foreign universities where a bachelors degree is required. TKK did not offer programs terminating in a degree, a student might only be accepted to study for the Masters level degree. TKK required a degree from foreign students studying in English. Apart from numerous programs in Finnish language, various international Masters programs were offered exclusively for studies in English, the university was organized in four faculties, each consisting of departments and separate laboratories, and separate units not operating under any faculty. More recently, the university has invested in the research of nanotechnology, operating the largest cleanroom facility in Northern Europe. TKK was located in Otaniemi, Espoo, several high-tech companies, the Finnish forest industrys joint experimental laboratory KCL, and business incubators Innopoli and Technopolis are also situated there. It is also adjacent to Keilaniemi, with Life Science Center. The area is connected by a 15-minute bus ride to the center of Helsinki, TKK was known for its active student community and technology students are highly noticeable, as they wear a distinctive hat and often brightly colored overalls to many of their public events. The community has also organised important charity events, TKK students are also famous for, and Finlands leading practitioners of, student pranks, similar in principle to MIT hacks
26.
Gymnasium (school)
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In its current meaning, it usually refers to secondary schools focused on preparing students to enter a university for advanced academic study. In the US, the German Gymnasium curriculum was used at a number of universities such as the University of Michigan as a model for their undergraduate college programs. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men, in the Polish educational system the gimnazjum is a middle school for pupils aged 13 to 16. The same applies in the Greek educational system, with the option of Εσπερινό Γυμνάσιο for adults. The gymnasium is a school which prepares the student for higher education at a university. They are thus meant for the more academically minded students, who are sifted out at about the age of 10–13, in addition to the usual curriculum, students of a gymnasium often study Latin and Ancient Greek. Some gymnasiums provide general education, others have a specific focus, today, a number of other areas of specialization exist, such as gymnasiums specializing in economics, technology or domestic sciences. In some countries, there is a notion of progymnasium, which is equivalent to beginning classes of the full gymnasium, here, the prefix pro indicates that this curriculum precedes normal gymnasium studies. The term was derived from the classical Greek word gymnasion, which was applied to an exercising ground in ancient Athens. Here teachers gathered and gave instruction between the hours devoted to exercises and sports, and thus the term became associated with. This use of the term did not prevail among the Romans, but was revived during the Renaissance in Italy, in 1538, Johannes Sturm founded at Strasbourg the school which became the model of the modern German gymnasium. In 1812, a Prussian regulation ordered that all schools which had the right to send their students to the university should bear the name of gymnasia, by the 20th century, this practice was followed in almost the entire Austrian-Hungarian, German, and Russian Empires. In the modern era, many countries which have gymnasiums were once part of three empires. In Albania a gymnasium education takes three years following a compulsory nine-year elementary education and ending with an aptitude test called Matura Shtetërore. The final test is standardized at the level and serves as an entrance qualification for universities. There are both public and private schools in these countries. Therefore, gymnasiums often base their admittance criteria on an entrance exam, in Austria the Gymnasium has two stages, from the age of 11 to 14, and from 15 to 18, concluding with Matura. The Humanistisches Gymnasium focuses on Ancient Greek and Latin, the Neusprachliches Gymnasium puts its focus on actively spoken languages
27.
Abitur
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Abitur is a university-preparatory school leaving qualification in Germany, Lithuania, Finland, and Estonia. It is conferred to students who pass their exams at the end of their secondary education. As a matriculation examination, Abitur can be compared to A-level, Matura or the International Baccalaureate Diploma, thus, it encompasses the functions of both a school graduation certificate and a college entrance exam. The official term in Germany for this certificate of education is Allgemeine Hochschulreife, in 2005, a total of 231,465 students passed the Abitur exam in Germany. The numbers have risen steadily and in 2012, a total of 305,172 students obtained the Allgemeine Hochschulreife and this number, reflecting those who pass the traditional Abitur at their high school, is, however, lower than the total count. Adding the 51,912 students who obtained the Hochschulreife at vocational training schools, if those who obtain the Fachhochschulreife are also added, then the total of those who obtained the right to study at a university or a Fachhochschule is 501,483. Until the 18th century, every German university had its own entrance examination, in 1788 Prussia introduced the Abiturreglement, a law, for the first time within Germany, establishing the Abitur as an official qualification. It was later established in the other German states. In 1834, it became the university entrance exam in Prussia. Since then, the German state of Hesse allows students with Fachhochschulreife to study at the universities within that state, the academic level of the Abitur is comparable to the International Baccalaureate, the GCE Advanced Level and the Advanced Placement tests. Indeed, the requirements for the International Baccalaureate differ little from the German exam requirements. It is the only school-leaving certificate in all states of Germany that allows the graduate to move directly to university, the other school leaving certificates, the Hauptschulabschluss and the Realschulabschluss, do not allow their holders to matriculate at a university. However, the Abitur is not the path to university studies. Students who successfully passed a Begabtenprüfung are also eligible, a person who does not hold the Abitur and did not take an aptitude test may still be admitted to university by completing at least the 10th grade and doing well on an IQ-Test. The official meaning behind the word Abitur in Germany is Zeugnis der allgemeinen Hochschulreife, during the two final years of secondary school studies and in their final exams, students receive grades on a scale of 15 to 0 points. The points are weighted and then added up and converted to the grade on a scale from 1 to 6. Student who receive 13.72 points or more on average in all courses, in German, the European Baccalaureate is called europäisches Abitur, and the International Baccalaureate is called internationales Abitur, both not to be confused with the German Abitur. The term Fachabitur was used in all of Western Germany for a variation of the Abitur until the 1990s and this qualification includes only one foreign language
28.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
29.
Junior Certificate
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These exams, like those for the Leaving Certificate, are supervised by the State Examinations Commission. Typically a student takes 9 to 13 subjects – including English, Irish, the objective of the Junior Cycle is. The Junior Certificate quickly became the requirement for getting a job in Ireland. Near the end of the decade, the Department of Education and Science began to replace many subject curricula, particularly those that were dated, such as History and Geography. In 1999, Civic, Social, and Political Education was introduced as a subject and made mandatory from 2000, when Religious Education was also brought in. Religion was phased in with just a few schools adopting it in its first year, in 2002 a new Science course was introduced. The new course emphasised greater class participation and introduced the awarding of a percentage of marks for class practicals throughout the three years, however, many teachers complained about a lack of information from the Department about this change. Sample papers were not released until early 2006, the year when the new exam would be sat for the first time, also, some schools complained that they did not have the laboratory facilities to do the new course but were forced to teach it anyway. The lack of students taking honours Maths has been a consistent issue throughout the history of the Junior Certificate, however, in recent years the trend of taking honours Maths has increased positively. The Junior Cycle is the first three years of second-level education, in the final year of the course, teachers allocate a substantial amount of time for revision of key topics. Candidates also practice answering questions which appeared on previous examination papers, courses are quite broad – for example the Business Studies course covers business organisation, marketing, economics, accounting and several other areas. The same is true for the Science course, which covers basic physics, chemistry. The Leaving Certificate exam by comparison is much more specific, a recognised junior pupil must undertake all the mandatory subjects and at least two of the optional subjects, except insofar as exemptions or exclusions apply. In certain types of schools, subjects in the optional grouping may in fact be mandatory, for instance History, most schools do not offer all the optional subjects, but must offer all the mandatory and certain optional subjects. Each subject is examined at one of three levels, Higher Level, Ordinary Level, or Foundation Level, Foundation Level may only be taken in two subjects, Irish and Mathematics. Although English may be taken at Foundation Level for the Junior Cert, all other subjects may be taken at either Ordinary or Higher Level. In general, a Higher Level grade is worth 40 points more than the equivalent Ordinary Level grade, no points are awarded for a grade below D3. However, a D3 may be awarded with a tolerance of up to 2%, irish† English Mathematics CSPE †An exemption from taking Irish may be awarded in some cases, for students with a specific learning difficulty and who moved to Ireland after the age 12
30.
Trinity College, Dublin
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Trinity College is the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin, a research university in Ireland. It is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland, originally it was established outside the city walls of Dublin in the buildings of the dissolved Augustinian Priory of All Hallows. Trinity College was set up in part to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, although Catholics and Dissenters had been permitted to enter as early as 1793, certain restrictions on their membership of the college remained until 1873. From 1871 to 1970, the Catholic Church in Ireland forbade its adherents from attending Trinity College without permission, women were first admitted to the college as full members in January 1904. Trinity College is now surrounded by Dublin and is located on College Green, the college proper occupies 190,000 m2, with many of its buildings ranged around large quadrangles and two playing fields. Academically, it is divided into three faculties comprising 25 schools, offering degree and diploma courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The Library of Trinity College is a deposit library for Ireland. The first University of Dublin was created by the Pope in 1311, following this, and some debate about a new university at St. The first Provost of the College was the Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, two years after foundation, a few Fellows and students began to work in the new College, which then lay around one small square. During the eighteenth century Trinity College was seen as the university of the Protestant Ascendancy, Parliament, meeting on the other side of College Green, made generous grants for building. The first building of this period was the Old Library building, begun in 1712, followed by the Printing House, during the second half of the century Parliament Square slowly emerged. The great building drive was completed in the nineteenth century by Botany Bay. In December 1845 Denis Caulfield Heron was the subject of a hearing at Trinity College, Heron had previously been examined and, on merit, declared a scholar of the college but had not been allowed to take up his place due to his Catholic religion. Heron appealed to the Courts which issued a writ of mandamus requiring the case to be adjudicated by the Archbishop of Dublin, the decision of Richard Whately and John George de la Poer Beresford was that Heron would remain excluded from Scholarship. This decision confirmed that the position remained that persons who were not Anglicans could not be elected to Scholarship, Fellowship or be made a Professor. However within less than three decades of this all disabilities imposed on Catholics were repealed as in 1873, all tests were abolished. Prior to 1956 it was the responsibility of the local Bishop, the nineteenth century was also marked by important developments in the professional schools. The Law School was reorganised after the middle of the century, the Engineering School was established in 1842 and was one of the first of its kind in Ireland and Britain
31.
Student orientation
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The name of the period varies by country. Although usually described as a week, the length of this varies widely from university to university and country to country. The length of the week is often affected by each universitys tradition as well as financial and physical constraints, during this period, students participate in a wide range of social activities, including live music and other performances, sports challenges, stunts, and open-air markets. The week before the term starts is known as, Frosh in some colleges and universities in Canada, in Sweden, it is known as nollning or inspark. Orientation week is the phrase in the United States. Some schools use the acronym WOW for Week of Welcome, in Canada, first year students are called Frosh or first years. The terms freshies and freshers are also emerging, in the United States, first year university students are typically referred to as freshmen. In the U. K. and Ireland first year students are known as freshers or first years, freshies is also an emerging term in New Zealand. In Sweden, the student is a nolla during the period and usually upgraded to the status of an etta at a ceremony involving a fancy three-course dinner. In Australia, some universities require students to arrive at university a week before classes start in order to gain course approval and this is generally followed by continued partying and drinking, especially among students living in residential colleges such as Janet Clarke Hall and Ormond College. The Adelaide University O-Week runs from Monday to Thursday in the week before lectures begin, during O-Week sporting clubs and societies set up a variety of tented areas where clubs display their activities. The Adelaide University Union coordinates a variety of events centering around beer, bands, a major event for the week is the O-Ball which takes place in the Cloisters. The O-Ball attracts many thousands of revellers, not all of whom are Adelaide University students, in Canada, the nature and length of orientation week varies considerably between Universities. For instance, Ottawa, has two universities within its centre, the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, both with orientations spanning approximately 7 days. At The University of Ottawa, Frosh Week is Called 101 week, at Carleton University there are multiple orientations, SPROSH, ENG Frosh, Radical Frosh, and the largest, CUSA/RRRA/SEO Frosh. In the province of Quebec, because of the CEGEP system, froshies are of legal drinking age, moreover, the proximity of the two Ottawa universities also allows them to take advantage of the drinking age in neighbouring Gatineau, Quebec. The University of British Columbia cancels the first day of class for all students, similarly, Ryerson University also has a number of Frosh Weeks organized by different student groups, although it also has a central frosh team known as the Ryerson Orientation Crew. At the Friday of frosh week, the Ryerson Students Union holds a concert that is free for all Ryerson students, mcMaster University also organizes many events during what they term Welcome Week
32.
University of Bologna
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The University of Bologna, founded in 1088, is the oldest university in continuous operation. It was the first place of study to use the term universitas for the corporations of students and masters which came to define the institution, located in Bologna, as of 2013, the Universitys crest carries the motto Alma mater studiorum and the date A. D.1088. The University has about 85,500 students in its 11 schools and it has campuses in Ravenna, Forlì, Cesena and Rimini and a branch center abroad in Buenos Aires. It also has a school of excellence named Collegio Superiore di Bologna, an associate publisher of the University of Bologna is Bononia University Press S. p. A. The date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088 and these students then hired scholars from the city to teach them. In time the various nations decided to form an association, or universitas—thus. The foreign students in Bologna received greater rights, and collective punishment was ended, there was also collective bargaining with the scholars who served as professors at the university. By the initiation or threat of a student strike, the students could enforce their demands as to the content of courses, the professors could also be fined if they failed to finish classes on time, or complete course material by the end of the semester. A student committee, the Denouncers of Professors, kept tabs on them, Professors themselves were not powerless, however, forming a College of Teachers, and securing the rights to set examination fees and degree requirements. Eventually, the city ended this arrangement, paying professors from tax revenues, until modern times, the only degree granted at that university was the doctorate. Higher education processes are being harmonised across the European Community, nowadays the University offers 101 different Laurea or Laurea breve first-level degrees, followed by 108 Laurea specialistica or Laurea magistrale second-level degrees. After the Laurea one may attain 1st level Master, after second-level degrees are attained, one may proceed to 2nd level Master, specialisation schools, or doctorates of research. A new department of Latin History was added in 2015, on 25 April 1951 the first issue of the review was published in Bologna. In a short time, il Mulino became one of the most interesting points in Italy for the political and cultural debate. Editorial activities evolved along with the review, in 1954, the il Mulino publishing house was founded, which today represents one of the most relevant Italian publishers. In addition to this were initiated research projects, that led, in 1964. In the 2016-17 THE World University Rankings the University of Bologna was ranked in the worlds top 250 universities
33.
Liceo classico
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Liceo classico is the oldest, public secondary school type in Italy. The educational curriculum lasts five years, and students are generally about 14 to 19 years of age, due its rigorous curriculum and numerous notable alumni, it is often considered the most prestigious secondary school students can attend throughout Italy. Until 1969, this was the secondary education track that allowed a student access to any kind of Italian university. It is known as a scientific and humanistic school, one of the few European secondary school types where the study of ancient languages. A liceo classico offers a selection of subjects, but the central subjects are those related to literature. Several hours are dedicated to the study of history and philosophy. The liceo classicos distinctive subjects are history, Latin and ancient Greek, in Italy, Latin is taught in other kinds of schools as well, like liceo scientifico, Liceo delle Scienze Umane and few others with linguistic specializations. However, ancient Greek is taught only in the liceo classico, another peculiarity of the liceo classico is how the years of course are called, in all the other Italian five-year secondary schools, the years are referred to with increasing numbers from 1 to 5. In liceo classico the first two years are called ginnasio, the name comes from the Greek gymnasion, by 1963, the first three years were suppressed and integrated in the unified secondary school, where Latin was mandatory as a subject to access the high schools until 1975. The remaining three years of liceo classico are referred as 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of liceo, however, nowadays this habit is waning, even though the names of the different years are still colloquially used. There was also another test between the ginnasio and the liceo, several reforms changed the Italian school system in about 1940 and 1960, the first three years of ginnasio were separated and became an independent kind of school. In 1968, the compulsory test which had to be taken at the end of the ginnasio to enter the liceo was abolished, at the end, students must pass the Esame di Stato to obtain their certificate. *with computer lab at first biennial **Biology, chemistry and earth science List of schools in Italy
34.
Europa-Institut
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The Europa-Institut was founded at Saarland University in 1951, long before the signing of the Treaties of Rome, and it is consequently the second eldest institution focused on European Integration. Over 5,000 students from over 40 different countries have graduated from the Institute. To start with, almost all European disciplines were included in the study program, the focus during the first two years, namely 1951 and 1952, was on comparative literature, philosophy, history and musicology. Law and economics were disciplines which played a complimentary role, the importance of the Institute also grew with the development of project Europe. In 1953 a structural change led to the establishment of a department within the Institute. The purpose of this department was to train students wishing to pursue a career in diplomacy or in the service of the, at that time. In the meantime, the law, culture, economics and independent language department established themselves further, when Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957, Saarland University adopted the German university system. The Europa-Institut, which up to that point was geared primarily towards cultural and literary studies, was transformed into a European research institute with law, the Europa-Institut began operating with this concept in the winter term of 1957/58. In the mid 1960s, the program was combined so as to constitute a single integrated course. The emphasis lay on the specific problems pertaining to the European integrational process, law-based courses formed the core of program and these were complemented by courses in history, politics and economics. European Integration was established in 1980 by the law department of the Institute, Georg Ress and Prof. Dr. Michael R. Will as the first to head it, in 1991, Prof. Dr. Torsten Stein from Heidelberg became co-director of the Europa-Institut, which he led together with Prof. Dr. Werner Meng from Halle since 1999. In 2012, Prof. Dr. Thomas Giegerich has been appointed the new co-director in succession to Prof. Dr. Torsten Stein, in 1990 the postgraduate MBA program European Management was established by the economics department of the Institute. The Masters program European Integration is a 12-month, full-time LL. M course centering on substantive, institutional and procedural European law, to successfully complete the program, students need to gain 60 credits. The study comprises 2 semesters of lectures and a written thesis, to gain a specialization, a student needs to successfully complete the given unit, i. e. gain a minimum of 12 credits as well as pass units obligatory courses. The institute as well as the university use French grading system, the current fee can be checked here The MBA program European Management focuses on European market. As a prerequisite completion of study of at least 240 credits as well as 2 years of corresponding working experience are required. It focuses on three aspects, people, markets and morals and it comprises 15 study units and final thesis
35.
University of St Andrews
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The University of St Andrews is a British public research university in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland, St Andrews was founded between 1410 and 1413, when the Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII issued a papal bull to a small founding group of Augustinian clergy. St Andrews is made up from a variety of institutions, including three constituent colleges and 18 academic schools organised into four faculties, the university occupies historic and modern buildings located throughout the town. The academic year is divided into two terms, Martinmas and Candlemas, in term time, over one-third of the towns population is either a staff member or student of the university. It is ranked as the third best university in the United Kingdom in national league tables, the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking names St Andrews among the worlds Top 50 universities for Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities. St Andrews has the highest student satisfaction amongst all multi-faculty universities in the United Kingdom, St Andrews has many notable alumni and affiliated faculty, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, theologians, philosophers, and politicians. Six Nobel Laureates are among St Andrews alumni and former staff, a charter of privilege was bestowed upon the society of masters and scholars by the Bishop of St Andrews, Henry Wardlaw, on 28 February 1411. Wardlaw then successfully petitioned the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII to grant the university status by issuing a series of papal bulls. King James I of Scotland confirmed the charter of the university in 1432, subsequent kings supported the university with King James V confirming privileges of the university in 1532. A college of theology and arts called St Johns College was founded in 1418 by Robert of Montrose, St Salvators College was established in 1450, by Bishop James Kennedy. St Leonards College was founded in 1511 by Archbishop Alexander Stewart, St Johns College was refounded by Cardinal James Beaton under the name St Marys College in 1538 for the study of divinity and law. Some university buildings that date from this period are still in use today, such as St Salvators Chapel, St Leonards College Chapel, at this time, the majority of the teaching was of a religious nature and was conducted by clerics associated with the cathedral. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the university had mixed fortunes and was beset by civil. He described it as pining in decay and struggling for life, in the second half of the 19th century, pressure was building upon universities to open up higher education to women. In 1876, the University Senate decided to allow women to receive an education at St Andrews at a roughly equal to the Master of Arts degree that men were able to take at the time. The scheme came to be known as the L. L. A and it required women to pass five subjects at an ordinary level and one at honours level and entitled them to hold a degree from the university. In 1889 the Universities Act made it possible to admit women to St Andrews. Agnes Forbes Blackadder became the first woman to graduate from St Andrews on the level as men in October 1894
36.
England and Wales
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The devolved National Assembly for Wales was created in 1999 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom under the Government of Wales Act 1998 and provides a degree of self-government in Wales. The powers of the Assembly were expanded by the Government of Wales Act 2006, which allows it to pass its own laws, there is no equivalent body for England, which is directly governed by the Parliament and the government of the United Kingdom. During the Roman occupation of Britain, the area of present-day England and Wales was administered as a single unit, at that time, most of the native inhabitants of Roman Britain spoke Brythonic languages, and were all regarded as Britons, divided into numerous tribes. After the conquest, the Romans administered this region as a single unit and this aimed to replace Welsh criminal law with English law. Welsh law continued to be used for civil cases until the annexation of Wales to England in the 16th century, the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 then consolidated the administration of all the Welsh territories and incorporated them fully into the legal system of the Kingdom of England. Prior to 1746 it was not clear whether a reference to England in legislation included Wales and this specified that in all prior and future laws, references to England would by default include Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act was repealed in 1967, although the definition of England it created is preserved for acts passed prior to its repeal. Since the Acts repeal what was referred to as England is now England and Wales, while references to England, England and Wales are treated as a single unit, for most purposes, because the two form the constitutional successor to the former Kingdom of England. The continuance of Scots law was guaranteed under the 1706 Treaty of Union that led to the Acts of Union 1707, thus, most laws applicable to England also applied to Wales. However, Parliament now passes laws applicable to Wales and not to England, examples are the Welsh Language Acts 1967 and 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998. Measures and Acts of the National Assembly for Wales passed since the Government of Wales Act 2006 also apply in Wales, following the Government of Wales Act, effective since May 2007, the National Assembly for Wales can legislate on matters devolved to it. Following a referendum on 3 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law-making powers and this was the first time in almost 500 years that Wales had its own powers to legislate. Each piece of Welsh legislation is known as an Act of the Assembly, outside of the legal system the position is mixed. Some organisations combine as England and Wales, others are separate, some religious denominations organise on the basis of England and Wales, most notably the Roman Catholic Church, but also small denominations, e. g. the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Prior to the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, the Electoral Commission maintains a register of political parties, organised according to where the party operates. The order of precedence in England and Wales is distinct from those of Northern Ireland and Scotland, the national parks of England and Wales have a distinctive legislative framework and history. Courts of England and Wales Judiciary of England and Wales Cultural relationship between the Welsh and the English Geography of Wales Geography of England British Isles
37.
Sixth form college
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In Singapore and India, this is known as a junior college. The municipal government of the city of Paris uses the sixth form college as the English name for a lycée. In England and the Caribbean, education is compulsory until the end of year 13, in the independent sector, sixth forms are an integral part of secondary schools, and there is also a number of smaller-scale independent sixth form colleges. In Wales, education is compulsory until the end of year 11. Students at sixth form college typically study for two years, some students sit AS examinations at the end of the first year, and A-level examinations at the end of the second. These exams are called C. A. P. E. in the Caribbean, in addition, in recent years a variety of vocational courses have been added to the curriculum. There are currently over 90 sixth form colleges in England and Wales, most perform extremely well in national examination league tables. In addition, they offer a range of courses at a lower cost per student than most school sixth forms. In a few areas, authorities run sixth form schools which function like sixth form colleges but are completely under the control of the education authorities. Unlike further education colleges, sixth form colleges rarely accept part-time students or run evening classes, there are a few schools in Brunei providing sixth form education. Five of them are dedicated sixth form colleges, with four located in Brunei-Muara District, belait has yet to have its own sixth form centre and sixth form education is presently housed in Sayyidina Ali Secondary School, sharing facilities with the secondary education. There is no sixth form education in Temburong — prospective students go to sixth form colleges in Brunei-Muara where they may stay in dormitories, almost all sixth form schools are government schools. Five of them provide education leading up to Brunei-Cambridge GCE A Level qualification, jerudong International School is the only non-government school which has sixth form education and its A Level is independent of those offered by its counterpart. Another school, Hassanil Bolkiah Boys Arabic Secondary School, is a government sixth form centre for students in the specialised Arabic stream, instead of A Level subjects, students generally learn subjects pertaining to Islamic knowledge in Arabic medium. The schooling culminates in the sitting of Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Ugama Brunei and they may then proceed to Islamic universities, locally or abroad such as Al-Azhar University. In the English-speaking Caribbean, there are many sixth form colleges, students must usually attain a grade A-C in 1-3 in the Caribbean Examinations Council, examinations. Students that fail these exams are not accepted into the sixth form program and either can do courses in other tertiary facilities, after sixth form, students are presented with an Associate Degree. Higher Grade qualifications can be taken in both the fifth and sixth years, the first comprehensive intake sixth form college in England was established in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, and took its first intake of students in September 1964
38.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
39.
Education in Canada
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Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province, Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by secondary education and post-secondary. Within the provinces under the ministry of education, there are district school boards administering the educational programs, in some provinces early leaving exemptions can be granted under certain circumstances at 14. Canada generally has 190 school days in the year, officially starting from September to the end of June, in British Columbia secondary schools, there are 172 school days during a school year. In Alberta, high school students get an additional four weeks off to accommodate for exam break, classes typically end on the 15th of those two months. Elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education in Canada is a provincial responsibility, some educational fields are supported at various levels by federal departments. Vocational training can be subsidized by the Learning branch of Human Resources, in many places, publicly funded high school courses are offered to the adult population. Nonetheless, more than 51% of Canadians have a college degree, the majority of schools, at 67%, are co-educational. Canada spends about 5. 4% of its GDP on education, the country invests heavily in tertiary education. Recent reports suggest that from 2006 the tuition fees of Canadian universities have increased by 40 percent, although these classes are offered, most appear to be limited by the area or region in which students reside. Furthermore, subjects that typically get assessed assume greater importance than non-assessed subjects or facets of the curriculum, the students in the Canadian school system receive a variety of classes that are offered to them. The system is set up to meet the needs of the individual student. The Constitution of Canada provides constitutional protections for some types of publicly funded religious-based and language-based school systems, the provision did originally apply to Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador, since these provinces did have pre-existing separate schools. This constitutional provision was repealed in Quebec by an amendment in 1997. The constitutional provision continues to apply to Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, there is a similar federal statutory provision which applies to the Northwest Territories. In practice, this means that there are publicly funded English schools in Quebec, and publicly funded French schools in the other provinces. Quebec students must attend a French school up until the end of school unless one of their parents qualifies as a rights-holder under s.23 of the Charter. Most education programs in Canada begin in kindergarten or grade one and go to grade twelve, except in Quebec, after completion of a secondary school diploma, students may go on to post-secondary studies
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